Maya Jama, who began hosting Love Island in January 2023, has revealed that there's one part of presenting the show that didn't come naturally.
Speaking to Jonathan Ross, she explained, “You do a normal strut about three or four times. You have to ‘sexy it up’ a little bit. Me and my friends the night before I went had a big girls’ night and they were like ‘Okay, show us how you’re going to walk.’
“As soon as I got there and all the camera crew were there, I was like, ‘I can’t do it…’ but you do it four or five times and they choose the best bits.”
She admitted that she was nervous about taking over from Laura Whitmore, who hosted the show from 2020 - 2022. She said that she “didn’t want to let anyone down”, and that she really considered taking the job after seeing calls for her to take over on social media.
“Obviously it’s a very big show, everyone watches it, everyone’s got an opinion and quite a lot of people online were like, ‘We want Maya to host’. So, I didn’t want it to be like, ‘You guys wanted me to do it and now I’m s***’. So I felt that pressure. And to get the slow-motion walk right…”
We are so happy that the 28-year-old confirmed that she’ll be returning for the next series, but it didn’t seem like she could tell us the premiere date just yet. “I’m going to be doing the summer one. It starts in… summer," she teased.
She said that, despite not “being allowed” to have favourites, she did name a few names… “I’ve got to be really neutral havent I? I’m not allowed to have favourites. I really like Shaq [Muhammad] just because he’s a hopeless romantic and he’s very cute and so in love.
“But then I also like Tom [Clare] and Samie [Elishi], they’re really fun and Tom’s gone on a journey. Will [Young]'s the fun one, he’s the silly one.”
She went on, “I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic. So when I see them connect, I’m like, ‘Oh that’s lovely.’ I get emotionally invested in the couples."